Rumors about Amazon and it’s highly anticipated Kindle Fire refresh are nothing new and extraordinary given how popular the initial tablet was (and still is) among customers and on the market, in general. According to reports, Amazon was preparing a follow-up — actually, more — which would have an 8.9-inch screen. We say was because new rumors have started surfacing according to which the 8.9-inch model will be skipped altogether.

Instead, Amazon is allegedly preparing a 10.1-inch Kindle Fire successor to better compete with Apple’s tablet offering — while the originally rumored 8.9-inch flavor was meant to compete with Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Note tablets. The new 10.1-inch Kindle Fire would be ready for a Q3 launch, if rumors turn out to be true, and “sources” believe “Amazon is expected to ship 30-40 million tablet PCs in 2012″.